MEE 307 SCIENCE OF ENGINEERING MATERIALS

CURRICULUM: Mechanical properties, thermal properties, chemical properties

(corrosion), electrical properties, electronic properties, magnetic properties, and,
electromagnetic (optical properties).

Scope; Since a 2-unit core t course corrosion runs this same semester, corrosion properties
will not be taught and examined in this course.

AIM: The aim is to relate macroscopically observed properties to the microscopic structures
that are the reasons behind the macroscopically observed properties. The meaning of the
parameters used to determine the properties and how to use our knowledge to change the
properties of materials.

1.0 MECHANICAL PROPERTIES.

Introduction

The mechanical properties of a material are the properties that are responsible for the
response of a material to mechanical force. Let’s consider the deformation of metal under
tensile force. When a tensile force acts on a metal, the metal responds to the force by
extending in the direction of application of force however the interaction between force and
the material is described by stress and strai/n in preference to force and extension. Stress is
loosely defined as force applied divided by the cross-sectional area of the test piece. Stress is
used in preference to force because stress depends only on the material and its state and does
not depend on the geometry of the materials as force does. Strain is also preferred to
extension as it also does not depend on the geometry of the metal.

DEFORMATION OF METALS:
The two types of Engineering Stress-strain curve is illustrated by the Graphs above.
Engineering stress  is defined asforce/original cross-sectional area(i.e.
F/A0Engineering strain is defined as displacement over original length(i.e.e ((l1-
l0)/l0) which can also be expressed as ( (l1/l0)-1)
Up to the proportionality limit there as a linear relationship between stress and strain and the
relationship between stress and strain is given by  Ee. E is called the modulus of
elasticity or Young’s modulus. It is a measure of how difficult the material is to deform. It is
a measure of how rigid the metal is. It is also called modulus of rigidity. A higher Young’s
modulus means the material requires a higher stress to deform it to the same value of strain.

PLASTIC DEFORMATION:

Critically resolved shear stress;

Plastic deformation: Plastic deformation takes place by slip. Slip occurs by the movement of
dislocation along slip systems. Engineering materials are generally polycrystals and the
crystals are arranged randomly in each material. The effective force for plastic deformation
is the force acting along the slip direction on the slip plane.

Consider the tensile force F on a particular material specimen illustrated in the diagram

below. Let  be the angle between the

cross sectional area and the slip
plane .and  the angle between the
direction of the force on the slip plane
and the slip direction. Let A be the cross-
sectional area of the specimen. The stress
applied on the specimen is given by  =
F/A. The area of the slip plane is A/Cos
ther. The effective force along the slip
direction is obtained by resolving the
force along the slip direction to get
FCos.. The stress S causing plastic
deformation is therefore FCos divided
by A/Cos which gives (FCosCosA.

i.e. S = FCosCos CosCos 


This is the resolved shear stress, when reaches the yield stress y , then S is called the
critically resolved shear stress Sc. it therefore holds that Sc=yCosCos This equation is
called the Schnidt’s equation. CosCos is called the Schnidt’s factor..Tthe inverse of the
Schmid;s factorr is called the orientation factor. The maximum value of the Schnidt’s factor
is obtained when both and are 450 and this gives a Schnidt’s factor of a half. This implied
that the maximum of a half of the applied stress is used for slip.

The Plastic Deformation of an FCC single crystal

It is easier to investigate plastic deformation using a single crystal, because the complexities
brought by the grain boundaries and difference in orientation directions of the grains are
eliminated.

The stress strain curve of an FCC single crystal is illustrated below.

The curve can be divided into three zones. In zone 1 the strain hardening rate (de/ds) is very
low and the stress needed for deformation is also low. The stress –strain curve in the region is
also not temperature dependent.as there are no dislocations interaction though the number of
dislocations increases in the zone , in the zone there is generation of dislocations but no
dislocation interaction. In zone 2 there is a high and constant strain hardening rate, the
deformation in zone 2 is temperature dependent. In the zone there exists many dislocations
but more importantly there aredislocation interactions. Dislocation interactions that convert
mobile dislocations into sessile dislocations are the ones that really contribute to strain
hardening rate. They are the ones that make crystals more difficult to deform. For instance
two mobile dislocations can interact to produce a dislocation that does not lie on the slip
system and will therefore not be able to move and therefore constitutes a sessile dislocation.
Alloying materials also may pin down dislocation down and prevent dislocation motion.
Barriers such as in Cottrell-Lomer barrier also prevents motion of dislocations, dislocations
may form jogs which will not be mobile. In addition in zone 2 the dislocations pile up behind
the barriers (this is called dislocation pileup) and exert pressure on the barrier, the barrier also
exert a back pressure on the dislocations.

In zone 3, high stress is required for deformation but strain hardening rate is low. Also the
deformation is not temperature dependent. What happens in zone 3 is that the pressure
generated by the dislocation pile ups becomes greater than the back pressure of the barrier,
thus the dislocations are able to overcome the barrier and they become mobile once again.

Energy stored by a dislocation: From our discussions above it is seen that the energy used for
the plastic deformation of a metal is used to create and move a dislocation. The energy of a
dislocation can be determined by considering the energy of a screw dislocation.
Consider the element of the screw dislocation at an angle  to the horizontal. Now over the
entire 2 (radians), the displacement is b, the burgers vector. Therefore at angle the
`` ` ` ` ` displacement is (x b = b
the strain therefore is (b),/ rbr
the shear stress is therefore Gb/r
recall that Energy per unit volume = ½
strain x stress i.e
dE/dV = 0.5 b/2r x Gb/2r where E is
the energy of the dislocation and V is its
volume r
i.e. dE= 0.5Gb 2l rdr = Gb l ln r ro
2 2

42 r2 4 
Gb l ln(r/ro)
2

4
where r is the radius of the screw
dislocation and ro is the radius of the
core the screw dislocations (what
happens at the center of the core is not
yet understood)
If typical values are put in this equation, it will be seen that dislocations are high energy
structure. Energy is of the order of e

Bauschinger effect:: The Bauscinger effect is observed as a difference in the stress-strain

relationship due to difference in the direction of application of load. Consider a material in
which a load is applied as below. During the deformation the dislocationsmove along the
system and come against a barrier, the leading dislocation is pinned down and then
dislocations pile up behind it and the pinned down dislocations respond with a back pressure
(Pb).

The effective load responsible for the deformation of the material is P-Pn. Though the applied
load is P. If the direction of the applied stress is now reversed the back pressure will then
support the applied load and the effective load causing deformation will be P + Pb and the
deformation will be different from that caused by P-Pb though the applied load in both cases
is P.

Stress-strain systems and relationships

There are two types of stress-strain systems in use,(i) The engineering stress strain system
and the true stress –true strain system.

The engineering stress is defined as load/original area. (i.e S= F/A 0) where original Area is
the cross sectional area of the test specimen before the load was applied. Engineering strain
is defined as the extension over the original length (i.e. e= (1l – lo) /lo or ( l1/lo ) -1.

The true stress is defined as the load /current area (i.e.  = l/A) and true strain is defined as
extension /current length. (i.e.  = dl/l = dlnl = ln(l2/l1) for a materials that extend from li to l2.
Two typical; engineering stress-strain curve are illustrated above while typical true stress true
strain curve is illustrated below.

Advantages of the true stress-true strain system over the engineering stress-strain system are
(i) The true stress-true strain system indicates what is happening in reality (it indicates the
actual stress that is being applied to cause the deformation) unlike in the engineering stress-
strain curve in which the material do not fracture at the highest stress., the ultimate tensile
stress (U.T.S) but at a lower stress. What happens is that after the U.T.S the material had
undergone necking (i.e. it has elongated and the width had therefore reduced but the load is
being supported by the neck (i.e. Portion of the test piece with narrower cross -section) and
actually if the s load at the fracture is divided by the cross sectional area supporting the
weight, the stress obtained will be the highest and a lot higher than the U.T.S.

(ii) The true strain is additive unlike the engineering strain which is not. If due to the
application of a tensile stress P1 a metal of original strength lo extends to a length l1, and due
to further stress P2 it extends from l1 to l2, then the strain is expected to that of the same metal
that extends from lo to l2.due to a stress P.

Consider the true stress true strain system, the strain under stress P1 -= ln(l1/lo) .

Similarly the strain due to P2 = ln(l2/l1)

The strain under P =ln(l2/lo) which is the sum of the under P1 and strain P2

As the sum of the strain under P1 and P2is ln() + ln(l2/l1) = ln((l1/lo)x(l2/l1)= ln(l2/lo). Whereas
if the engineering strain was used then the strain due to load P 1 is ((l1-lo)/l0) and the strain due
to P2 is ((l2-l1) /.l1).

P1 + P2 = (l1-lo)/lo+ (l2-l1)/l1 which is not equal to (l2-lo)/lo.

The disadvantage of the true stress true strain is that in other to determine the true stress the
current cross-sectional area will have to be determined and this varies every instant the stress
is changed. Whereas for engineering stress only the original cross-sectional area needed only
to be determined. There is however relationship between the two systems and using the
Relationships one can convert value from the engineering stress-strain system to the true
stress-strain system. The relationships are derived as follows:

Consider a test piece that was of original length lo which extends to l 1 under a stress. The
engineering strain e = (l1-lo)/lo = (li/lo)-1; i.e l1/lo=1+e. this implies that = ln(1+e)which
relates the true strain and the engineering strain.

Engineering stress is given by S= F/Ao while the true stress is given by  = F.A but during
plastic deformation volume is constant, so Aolo=Al therefore A=Aolo/l therefore  = Fl/Aolo

i.e  = (F/Ao)(l/lo)

i.e.  = S(1+ e)

Fracture.

Fracture occur when a piece of material fragments into two or more parts. There are generally
two types of fracture; (j) Brittle fracture and (ii) Ductile fracture.
Ductile Fracture: Ductile fracture allows the material to undergo a lot of deformation before
it breaks. The fracture surface is dull and granular. The two modes of ductile fracture are
illustrated above. Very ductile materials or very pure metals when under tensile stress draw to
a thin thread as illustrated above , other ductile materials exhibit the ‘cup and come’ mode.

The facture behaviour of materials is affected by (i) alloying, (jj) rate of loading and (ii)
Temperature.

Alloying can change a ductile metal to a brittle metal, also at high rate of loading materials
tend to be brittle while at low rate of loading they tend to be ductile. Also at low temperatures
metals tend to be brittle.

Brittle fracture : This is the fracture that occurs without appreciable deformation. It is
sudden and fast it travels at the speed of sound. The fracture surface is smooth and shiny. The
mode of brittle fracture is illustrated in the Figure above.

At high temperatures, the grains are stronger than the grain boundaries and the fracture
occurs along the grain boundaries, and the fracture is said to be intergranular while at low
temperatures the grain boundaries are stronger than the grains and the fracture occurs across
the grains and the fracture is transgranular. The transition mode changes from transgranular
to intergranular over a temperature range called the Equi-cohesive temperature range.
(ECT)

Annealing Heat treatment.

Plastic deformation does not only change the shape of the deformed metals, it also changes its
properties. Corrosion resistance is decreased, electrical and thermal conductivity are
decreased .Ductility is reduced and hardness is increased. A soft magnetic material will
change to a hard magnetic material (not physically hard or soft but magnetic) To regain these
properties the metal piece should be subjected to annealing heat treatment.

Annealing is carried out by heating the metal to a specific temperature held at the temperature
for some specific time and allowed to cool to the room temperature at a given rate.

It should be noted that after deformation the macrostructure (grains) of the material will be
inhomogeneous in terms of size, shape and orientation. The grains will also be highly
strained, but no matter how highly strained the grains are there will be some small and strain
free grains. Thus the starting point of the grains (in terms of energy content) is not the same.

There are three major stages of annealing. Relief, Recrystallisation and grain growth.

RECOVERY: Recovery takes place between 0.2T and 0.3T where T is the melting point of
the metal in Kelvin. Recovery is divided into two stages; Rest(or relief) and Polygonisation.
The driving force behind relief is the decrease in energy due to the elimination of some
crystal defect

Rest Rest (or relief) starts at the point where the concentration of dislocation is highest.
During rest, point imperfections such as vacancies, Schotky defects, Freknel defects are
corrected. Dislocations of opposite signs attract and are annihilated.

Polygonjsation; During polygonisation, dislocations of the same signs align to form low
angle grain boundries.

After relief, electrical conductivity,and thermal conductivity will be recovered. Corrosion

resistance will be lowered

RECRYSTALLISATION; Recrystallisation also takes place in two stages Nucleation and

Grain growth). During nucleation the strained grains are replaced with strain free grains and
the driving force is the lowering of energy of the metal piece by replacing strained grains
with strain free grains. The second stage of recrystallization is grain growth. During grain
growth the strain free grains grow. They grow at the expense of strained grains which will
continue to nucleate strain free grains.

At the end of recrystallization the metal piece would have recovered its initial properties. The
grains were not however at the same energy wise at the beginning of annealing, the highly
deformed (strained)grains would start at the first stage (i.e. rest) while the small strain-free
grains would start at the last stage (Grain growth).As the grains are at different stages, then a
material is considered to have fully recrystalised when about 85% of its grains are at the last
stage of recrystallization.

GRAIN GROWTH (Abnormal). After the recrystalisation, if the heat treatment is not stopped
then a sort of cannibalisation occurs, the bigger strain free grains continue to grow at the
expense of the smaller ones. This occurs because the surface area of one grain of a particular
volume is less than the surface area of two or more grains whose volumes add up to the
volume of the bigger volume. The driving force is the decrease in energy (due to decrease in
surface energy) when one grain cannibalise another grain. So the big grains eat up the small
ones. At the end of the abnormal grain growth, the properties of the material will be different
to its properties before the commencement of the plastic deformatione.g. the material will be
softer than it was it was at the beginning of the plastic deformation corrosion resistance may
be higher and electrical conductivity may be increased.
Note on Heat treatment; There are many types of heat treatment to change the properties of
materials to the desired properties, for example; Homogenising heat treatment to homogenise
the material, case hardening to make the material hard on the outside and ductile on the
inside, quenching to make the materials very hard and so on and on.

2.0 THERMAL PROPERTIES

Materials respond to heat energy macroscopically by change in temperature and dimensions.

The energy that is required to increase the temperature of a material by one degree Kelvin
orCelsius(0C) is given by dQ = CdT or dQ/dT = C. C is called the Heat capacity. Heat
capacity does not depend on the material alone it depends on the mass as well. Heat capacity
will also depend on whether the volume of the material or the pressure of the material was
kept constant during the process.

Specific Heat Capacity defined as the heat required to increase the temperature of 1kg of a
material by one degree Kelvin (or Celsius) is a better parameter than Heat capacity because it
does not depend on the mass of the material.

There are two types of Specific heat capacity, Specific heat capacity at constant pressure(C p)
and Specific heat capacity at constant volume(C v).Specific heat capacity at constant
pressure(Cp) is defined as the heat is required to increase the temperature of 1kg of a
material by one degree Kelvin (or Celsius) at constant pressure. It is given by;

Cp = dQ/dT )p. Cp is not a constant, it varies with temperature.

Specific heat capacity at constant volume (Cv) is defined as the heat is required to increase the
temperature of 1kg of a material by one degree Kelvin (or Celsius) at constant volume. It is
given by;
Cv = dQ/dT )v. Cv varies only with temperature range below the

Debye Temperature.. Below the Debye temperature C v obeys the equation Cv = AT3 but it
remains a constant above the Debye temperature. The relationship between the Cv and
Temperature is sketched below
At T= 0K atoms do not vibrate, as heat is supplied and the temperature of the materials
increase the vibration of the atoms becomes more intense and the amplitude of the vibration
increases. Thus the effect of heat on material manifest at the microscopic level as vibration.
This vibration is three dimensional and is called lattice vibration as atoms are bonded to each
other one cannot vibrate independent of the other. Thus materials with stronger bonds require
more heat to make them vibrate at the same amplitude as those with weaker bonds, thus their
specific heat capacity is higher.

The parameter that is used to characterise the change in dimension of a material due to heat is
its coefficient of thermal expansivity or simply thermal expansivity. The thermal coefficient
of linear expansion  is defined as

 = l2 –l1
l1T

Where l1 is the length of the material at temperature T 1 and l2 is the length of the material at
temperature T2.Where T = T2.- T1the change in temperature..

The thermal coefficient of volume expansion  is likewise defined as

 =V2 –V1
V1T

Where V1 is the length of the material at temperature T1 and V2 is the length of the material at
temperature T2. Where T = T2-T1the change in temperature..
The expansion is due to the fact that the vibration of the atoms in not symmetric about the
vertical through the minima on the energy – inter atomic distance curve. Since the energy-
interatomic distance curve is deeper and narrower for materials with stronger atomic bond
then their coefficient of thermal expansion will be lower. The facts are illustrated in the
Figures below.

Thermal Stress; When a material is heated it will expand if it is not restrained however if the
material is restrained then it will not be able to expand but there will be stress induced in the
material, if the induced stress is greater than the UTS it may cause the material to shatter.( It
is this stress that causes the shattering of a glass cup when hot water is rapidly poured in) .

The magnitude of stress is deduced as follows;

Coefficient of thermal expansivity  = l2-l1 = e /T

l1T

But = Ee substituting for e in the equation above gives =ET..

Thermal Conductivity: Thermal conductivity is the ability of a material to transfer heat

through heat (by conduction). Materials that easily transport heat are called good thermal
Conductors while those that do not are called poor thermal conductors or insulators. The
lattice vibrations are responsible for transferring heat through many materials. The lattice
vibrations generates sinusoidal wave which travel through materials with the speed of sound
and when quantised a discrete packet is called a phonon. Lattice vibrations can easily be
scattered (i.e. disrupted). Scattering points such as point defects easily scatter lattice
vibrations Free electrons convey heat from the hot to the cold region. What happens is that
when electrons are heated they move faster and jostle the electrons with lower energy
(velocity) to move faster thereby transferring momentum and energy. Electrons are more
efficient at transferring heat than lattice vibrations because the very small size of electrons
make it difficult to scatter. There are therefore two components of thermal conductivity for
any material the conductivity due to lattice vibration K 1and the conductivity due to free
electronsKe. the relationship between these and the thermal conductivity of a material K is
given by K= K1+Ke. Metals are the best thermal conductors because they have a lot of free
electrons (by the nature of the metallic bond)and their Ke>>than Kl. Since electrons are more
efficient at transferring heat, hence they are good thermal conductors.\

Thermal conductivity K is defined as follows

dq/dt = - KAdT/dl, where dq/dt – rate of supply of heat. A is the cross sectional area
perpendicular to the flow of heat, and dT/dl is the temperature gradient.

The negative sign implies that the heat flows from the higher temperature to the lower It
follows that for a material with high thermal conductivity, the temperature gradient is lower
than that of a material with lower thermal conductivity given the same geometry and rate of
heat supply.

Thermal shock resistance,; the ability of a material to withstand a sudden supply of heat
without failing is called thermal shock resistance. Assignment, relate thermal shock
resistance to the relevant parameters you have learnt.

3.0 MAGNETIC PROPERTIES.

3.0 INTRODUCTION

Anywhere you have a moving electric charge (i.e. n electric current) there is always an
accompanying magnetic field on a plane perpendicular to that of the electric field. A
magnetic field is detected by its action on a magnetic dipole a magnetic dipole attempt to
align itself parallel to magnetic lines of force. (i.e. the magnetic field.). Science’s approach to
magnetism is very much similar to that of electricity and a lot of the parameters used to
describe the phenomenon of electricity has a parallel in magnetism.
Magnetism is the ideal phenomenon for characterisation of materials because it is widest in
range of values and in the types of materials response to applied field of which we shall treat
five or six.

3.1 ORIGIN OF MAGNETISM IN MATERIALS.

Magnetism occurs as a result of uncancelled magnetic effect of ’internal electrical current” in

materials. The internal currents are as a result of (i) Movement of the electrons in its orbital
around the nucleus and (ii) rotation or spinning of the electron. Of the two, the spin
contributes more to magnetic field. Where the electrons are paired in the orbital the magnetic
field of the clockwise spinning electron will cancel out that of the anticlockwise spinning
electron and there will be no net magnetic field observed. On the other hand where there exist
unpaired electrons there will be a magnetic field, the net magnetic field observed is the vector
sum of the contributions of all the electrons in the materials. Thus the inert materials of the
argon group are not expected to be magnetic?

3.2 MAGNETIC DIPOLES

There are two practical types of magnetic dipole used to generate magnetic field; (a) The bar
magnet and the (ii) The solenoid.(this acts like a lot of induction coils joined together) . The
magnetic field of both are presented below:-

Magnetic poles are termed the North pole and the South pole. Magnetic lines flow into the
south poles and out of the North poles. No matter how many pieces you break the bar
magnet into, each piece will yet have a north and a south pole (this holds even if you break a
pole into many pieces) so one may wonder what the size of the smallest bar magnet is. In the
closed loop of electric current (as represented by the solenoid or induction coil) the current is
observed to flow anticlockwise at the North pole and Clockwise at the south pole. The
diagram below aids in remembering this,
If you observe the current on a closed loop to be clockwise or anticlockwise from one side,
at the other side it will be observed to be of the opposite direction. This implies that no
matter the size of the closed loop (thinness, radius),there will always be a North and a South
pole. One may wonder again what the size of the smallest closed loop magnet is.

3.4 PARAMETERS USED TO DESCRIBE THE MAGNETIC PHENOMENON

Magnetic field (H) is a vector representing the magnetic field intensity also known as the
magnetic field strength. If a current I is passed through a solenoid of length L and having N
number of coils, then a magnetic field of strength H=NI/L is generated. If a substance is
placed in the field then a magnetic field (a vector) is induced in the substance. This field
contributes to the amount of magnetic field that will be observed (measured). The resultant
field is called Magnetic induction B, a vector. B is related to H by a scalar called Magnetic
permeability or simply permeability by the equation;

B = 

The permeability is a property of the medium in which the substance is placed and through
which the magnetic lines flow. The permeability is not necessarily a constant and neither is it
a single value function (i.e. for the same values of B and H it may have more than one value).
Hence eqn(4.1) is not necessarily a straight line graph. The unit of H is amperes per metre
while the unit of B is Tesla or Weber per square metre (i.e. Wbm-2).

 is the permeability of vacuum (or space) and its value is 4π x 10-7 Henry per metre or1.257
Hm-1 .In vacuum eqn(4.1) becomes;

B0 = 

Relative permeability r, is defined as r =  /0……………………………………(4.3)

(is there any similarity between electric permittivity and magnetic permeability?)

The Magnetisation, M of a material is defined as

B0 = 

Magnetisation is a measure of the contribution of the material to the magnetic field. It is a

result of the alignment of the dipole s of the material with the magnetic fiield. It is the
response of the material to the magnetic field.

Magnetisation is related to the magnetic field by susceptibility  as follows

M= H

he magnetic susceptibility is related to the relative permeability by

  = r-1 

Classification of materials based on magnetic characteristics,

The most common magnetic characteristic of materials are illustrated by the diagram below.

ETTOMAGNET
FERROMAGNETS

PARAMAGNETS
VACUUM

DIAMAGNETS

3.4.1 DIAMAGNETISM: Diamagnets are very weak non-permanent magnets, they only
display magnetism in the presence of .a magnet, once the magnet is removed no magnetic
field is generated by the diamagnets. ris very close to but less than 1 and less than that of
vacuum. Magnetic susceptibility is close to zero. When placed in a magnetic field
diamagnets are attracted to the weak sections of the field.

H=0 H

In diamagnets, in the absence of magnetic field there is no atomic dipole in the material. In
the presence of magnetic field the atoms of the material becomes magnetic dipole aligned,
though not perfectly, in direction opposite to that of the external field.
In diamagnets the induced field (B) is very small and is in the direction opposite to that of the
magnetic field. , the relative permeability is close to but slightly less than one, The magnetic
susceptibility is negative which implies that there is more field within the vacuum than within
a solid diamagnet when an external magnetic field of the same strength is applied

3.4.2 PARAMAGNETISM

H=0 H

Paramagnets exhibit random atomic dipole moments in the absence of an external magnetic
field. Because of the randomness of the atomic dipole moment (i.e. the dipole moment s are
in all directions) the net magnetic effect is zero. In the presence of an external magnetic field
the dipoles are partially aligned in the direction of the external magnetic field (i.e. though the
dipole moment s are not parallel to the external magnetic field each has a component in the
direction of the field.).

Paramagnets have a relative permeability close to but greater than one, they have magnetic
susceptibility close to but greater than zero.

When the external magnetic field is removed the paramagnetic solid exhibits no magnetic
field.as a whole Thus paramagnets and diamagnets are temporary magnets.

3.4.4 FERROMAGNETISM

H=0
 H

Figure 3. Magnetic domains in a single crystal ferromagnetic solid as external magnetic field
increases from top to bottom..

In ferromagnets,, in the absence of an external magnetic field, there are large regions within
the solid in which the dipole atomic magnetic moments are parallel. These regions are called
domains the boundary between domains are called domain walls. This is so because the
atomic dipole moments are coupled (i.e. they behave as if they are tied or bonded together
such that none can move independently and the movement of one affects the movement of its
neighbours). and a change in the direction of magnetic moment in and atom affects the next
(and so on) . Even between domain walls the atomic magnetic dipole moments change
gradually from one direction to the other as illustrated below:-

Domain wall
As the applied external magnetic field strength increases, the domains in the direction of the
external magnetic field increases at the expense of those that are not until all the dipole
moments in the solid i constitutes a single domain eventually. At which point it the
ferromagnetic has reached its saturation magnetisation. Ferromagnets exhibit permanent and
large magnetisation even in the absence of a magnetic field A permeabiliity of the order of
106 is not unusual.. M
N T

B L
O S
P H

In order to characterise a magnetic material it is not sufficient to determine the permittivity at

a given point on the B-H curve as it changes with changes in magnitude and direction of the
external field H. It is necessary to plot the B-H curve as illustrated above (this is a
hysteresis loop as the induction B lags on the magnetic field H).

On the application of the external magnetic field hysteresis moves from O to L and then as H
is increased to its maximum the induction also rises to its maximum and the curve moves
from L to M., At M the applied magnetic field is then decreased until it reaches zero at T
after which its direction is changed and the field is increased(but in the opposite direction)
the induction becomes zero at P. As the field is further increased (still in the opposite
direction ) up to its maximum, the induction rises to its maximum in the opposite direction
Q. H is then decreased to zero and the curve moves from Q to R. . As H is then increased to S
B decreases to zero. Further increase in H causes the hysteresis curve to follow the path S-
L-M/ As the External magnetic varies between its maxima the curve repeats the loop S-L–M-
N-P-Q-R-S . At B=0 H= S or P, P= -±S (i.e. H = ±S) the maximum value of H at B= 0 is
called the coercivity, (i.e it is the value of H needed to coerce the material to display
magnetism)while the value of B at H =0is called the remanence (the measure of magnetism
remaining with the material when the external magnetic field is removed). Now it is possible
that the material can still display higher magnetisation if H is increased as shown by the
hysteresis loop that follows . If the hysteresis loop S2-M2-N2-P2-Q2-R2-S2 is the highest
 M2/

N2 M
N

L
B
P2 P O S S2

Q R2

Q2

\response to any external magnetic field then at M2 the ferromagnetic material has reached
its saturation magnetisation. The trend in usage of terms now is to call S2 Coercivity and S or
all other Ss which a\will be less than S2 the coercive magnetisation. and M2 the Remanence
and other Ms which will be less than M2 the Remnant magnetisation). what happens as the
magnetic field is increased is that the domain tends to align with the magnetic field and the
domains with the dipole moment in the direction of the applied field grow at the expense of
those whose dipole moment s are not in the direction of the magnetic field as illustrated
below.

H4

B H4>H3>H2>H1>0

H3

H2

h H1

H=0 H
The area enclosed by the curve is a measure of energy wasted during the cycle .Hard magnets
enclose a relatively high area compared to a soft magnets as illustrated below. Hard and soft
magnets are physically hard and soft respectively and thus by heat treatment one can convert
a hard ferromagnet.to a soft ferromagnet.

Hard magnet.

Soft Magnet

Soft magnets have low coercivity and can easily be magnetised and demagnetised efficiently
(i.e. with minimal loss of energy) and for this reason they are used in devices subjected to
alternating magnetic fields (such as those produced by alternating currents). (They also have
low initial permeability) examples of such uses is their use in transformer cores. Hard
magnetic materials are used as permanent magnet because of their high magnetic remanence

4.0 OPTICAL PROPERTIES

The visible light is responsible for optical properties of materials, however the visible light
covers a narrow spectrum of the electromagnetic waves this chapter therefore covers the
response of materials to electromagnetic waves (e-m waves )in general and the visible light in
general..

Electromagnetic waves; Electromagnetic waves are made of rwo components, the electric
wave and the magnetic wave the two waves are on planes that are perpendicular to each
other and to the direction of propagation. All e-m waves travel with the same speed in a
medium (note vacuum is also considered a medium).The speed of e-m waves in vacuum, c,
is given by ;

c = (00)-0.5 where 0 is the electric permittivity of the vacuum and 0

is the magnetic permeability of the vacuum, The speed of the e-m wave in any other
medium v is given by ;

v = ()-0.5 where  is the electric permittivity of the medium

and  is the magnetic permeability of the medium. The frequency and wavelength of the e-m
wave is given by is C= f where f is the frequency and  is the wavelength.

Generally when considering the propagation of electromagnetic radiation it is easier to view

them as waves and when considering their interactions with matter it is more convenient to
consider them as made up of discrete packets of energy(i.e. photons). A combination of both
aspects is called quantum electrodynamics. The energy of a photon (E) is given by :
E= hf =hc where h is the Plank’s constant. (i.e. 6.63x10-34 JS) .

Parameters used to characterize Optical (e-m) properties of materials.:

When an electromagnetic radiation (or wave) is incident on a material or when it moves

through one medium to the other then three things can happen; it can either be (i) transmitted
(ii) reflected or (iii)absorbed. If the intensity of the incident ray, the transmitted ray, the
reflected ray and the absorbed ray is Ii, It,Ir and Ia respectively, it follows that;

Ii= It +Ir + Ia this is then divided by Ii to yield

I i= It + Ir + Ia which yields
Ii Ii Ii Ii

T+R+A=1 where T= It is the transmitivity of the medium R = Ir is the

reflectivity of the medium, Ii Ii
and A = Ia is the absorbtivity of the medium.
Ii

These characteristics of a medium do not depend on the medium alone it also depends on the
energy of the incident ray. Note because of the relationship E= hf, a single value function
and the constancy of the velocity of all electromagnetic waves in a medium(given that the
medium can transmit the wavelength). The energy of an e-m wave corresponds to a particular
wavelength and a particular frequency.

Transmission of electromagnetic wave ;

Electronic polarisation

SEMI CONDUCTIVE PROPERTIES

Semi conductors are materials with electrical conductivity lower than that of good electrical
conductors and much better than that of electrical insulators. The conductivity of a
semiconductor lies between and . One important difference between semiconductors and
good conductors is that the conductivity of semiconductors increases with temperature while
the conductivity of electrical conductors decreases with increasing temperature.

The energy band structure of semi conductor is of the same form as that of the electrical
insulators but the Energy band gap in semi conductor s is much lower than that of the
electrical insulators.

Conduction Elemental Semiconductors;

Conduction band
band Elemental semiconductors are semi –
Conductors that consist of one element
only. The element is necessarily from
Group 4. The two elements that are used
are Silicon and Germanium.
Semiconductors based on Silicon are
used for electronics. Their speed and
response is too low for use in photonics
Valence band and telecommunication, and for these
purposes Germanium based
semiconductors are used. The crystal
Valence band
 lattice of elemental semiconductors is
the diamond cubic crystal lattice and
Energy band structure Energy band structure
of a pure semiconductor of an electrical insulator

each atom is bonded to four other atoms and each bond is made of two overlapping half filled

e--

e--

.
(a) (b)

orbital one from each atom. as illustrated in (a) above.

At a higher temperature (or at a energy higher than the Energy band gap) some valence
electrons will be released from the bonds and would migrate from the bond and to other sites
within the semiconductor, The release of a valence electron will leave an unsaturated bond (a
half filled orbital), this unsaturated bond constitutes a hole and the charge of the hole is e +,
i.e a positive charge of the same amount as the charge of an electron. The hole left by an
electron will be filled by another electron and like that the electrons and holes move in the
semiconductor. The direction of the movement of a hole is opposite that of an electron and
since the charge of an electron and that of a hole is opposite in sign, they both add up to
contribute to the current flow in the semiconductor.

Binary semiconductors , Ternary semiconductors and other semiconductors having more

than one element. :
Semiconductors can be made of more than one element, when semiconductors are made of
two elements they are called binary semiconductors, when made up of three conductors they
are called ternary semiconductors and so on. The condition to be fulfilled is that the valence
electrons must add up; to 8. Thus one can have a group five element and a group three
element forming a semi conductor also a group six element and a group two element forming
a binary semiconductor.

The crystal structures of semiconductors made up of more than one element(i.e. non-
elemental semiconductor) is the Zinc blende structure . This is similar to the diamond cubic
structure, the only difference is that one FCC crystal is made up of one element and the other
FCC crystal is made up of the other element. The strict condition that any of the FCC crystals
must consist of one element only contributes to the higher cost of the non-elemental semi
conductors. The mixing of two or more elements to form a semiconductor gives the
semiconductors different energy band gaps which is key to the properties of the
semiconductors.
The general formula for a binary semiconductor is AnZ(8-n) where the subscript is the group
of(or valence electrons in) each element..Ternary semiconductors will similarly have the
formula AnBmZ(8-(n+m)) or AnY(8-m)Z(m-n) . The structure of a typical binary semiconductor is as
illustrated below.

This indicates a stoichiometric composition of .

The conductivity of the semiconductors () is given by;

 = nee e +npe e
Where ne is the number of electrons per volume and np is the number of holes per volume,
e and p are the mobility of electrons and holes respectively, and e is the electron charge.
However the semiconductors will only conduct when the electrons and holes are mobile, so at
temperatures (or energies) below which the electrons are broken free from their bonds the
conductivity of the pure semiconductors is practically zero.

Pure semiconductors like those described above will hardly be useful at the room temperature
or most temperatures at which semiconductors are used because it will require rather high
temperature to free the valence electrons. Most semiconductors in the market are doped and
that is why they operate at the room temperature. Semiconductors are doped when certain
amounts of impurity atoms are deliberately added to the semiconducting materials. The
impurity atoms are called dopants and an amount of about 10-7 the amount of the matrix
atoms is sufficient for the conductivity of the doped semiconductor to increase substantially
and work.

There are two types of dopants; (i) those that have more valence electrons than the
semiconductor matrix materials and when the dopants bond with the semiconductor material
the extra electrons are free to wander in the semiconductor materials and are really
responsible for the conductivity. This type of dopants is called donors and the type of
semiconductor s doped with donors is called n-type semiconductors.

The conductivity of n-type semiconductors is given by

 d = nde e
where nd is the number of electrons per volume and e is the mobility of electrons

The other type of dopants; (ii) those that have less valence electrons than the semiconductor
matrix materials and when the dopants bond with the semiconductor material the absence of
electrons , the holes are free to wander in the semiconductor materials and are really
responsible for the conductivity. This type of dopants is called acceptors and the type of
semiconductor s doped with donors is called p-ttype semiconductors.. The mobility of
electrons is always higher than the mobility of holes. (as a brain teaser why do you think
the mobility of electrons is always higher than that of holes.). The conductivity of the p-
type semiconductor is given by
d = npp e
where np is the number of holes per volume and p is the mobility of holes.

The conductivity of pure semiconductors depends on the matrix elements and not on anything
external so such conductors are said to be intrinsic. While the conductivity of doped
semiconductors depend on the dopants i. e. on the external materials that were bonded with
the matrix elements, such semiconductors are said to be extrinsic.. As we shall see later an
extrinsic semiconductor will turn intrinsic given the right conditions.

The structure of an n-type semiconductor and a p-type semiconductor are illustrated in the
figures below

n-type semiconductor p-type semiconductor

The extra electrons in the n-type semiconductor are free to move about within the
semiconductor similarly in the p-type semiconductor the extra holes are free to wander in the
semiconductor. The energy band structure of the doped semiconductors are illustrated below,
 The energy level of a dopant lies within
the energy band gap (i.e. the forbidden
region.). The energy level of the donor
Conduction band electron lies very near to but below the
minimum energy in the conduction band.
The donor electrons will conduct
electricity by moving from its level to
the conduction band. The energy level of
the acceptor hole lies very close to but
above the maximum energy of the
valence band. The holes will conduct by
falling into the valence band. Since the
Valence band energy required for these two processes
is less than the Energy band gap the
dopants are responsible for the
conduction of the electricity in extrinsic
semiconductor.

At low temperature the conductivity of a doped semiconductor is due to the dopants and is
represented by the relationship
d = nde e or  d = n a p e

The conductivity increases with temperature until all the donor electrons are in the
conduction band conducting or all the acceptor holes are in the valence band conducting.
That is a saturation point is reached and the conductivity remain ns practically the same until
a high enough temperature is reached at which valence electrons break bonds with the atoms
of the matrix elements and are free to conduct generating equal amount of holes. At this point
the conductivity of the semiconductor is given by

 = nee e +npe e + nde e

Or  = nee e +npe e + npp e

Depending on the type of dopant. However since ne= np≫ na or nd

then
 = ne(e +ne )e

which is the conductivity of the intrinsic semiconductor and the doped semiconductor is said
to have gone intrinsic.
 

Temperature

LAGOS STATE UNIVERSITY -EPE CAMPUS

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

HARMATTAN SEMESTER EXAMINATION

COURSE TITLE: SCIENCE OF ENGINEERING MATERIIALS

COURSE CODE: MEE 3O7

INSTRUCTION: ATTEMPT ANY FIVE QUESTIONS.

TIME: 3Hrs

1(a) What is elastic modulus and what relationship does it have with the atomic bond.[3
marks] .
b(i) Define (i)Engineering strain (ii) Engineering stress. (iii)True stress (iv)True strain.
[4marks]
(ii) What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Engineering stress-strain system over
the True stress-strain system,[3marks]
(iii) Draw a well-labelled typical engineering stress-strain curve [3marks]
(iv) A material of initial cross-sectional area of 5mm2 and initial length of 50mm underwent a
plastic deformation under a stress of 50KNm-2 such that its length increased to 60mm.
Determine the true stress and true strain. Derive all relationship used.[8marks]
iv) Show that the true strain is additive while the Engineering strain is not.[3marks]
(voi) Why does a metal not fracture at the UTS but at the fracture stress which is lower than
the UTS.

2.a(i) What is slip? what is the slip system.? List one characteristic of each of the two
components of the slip system.[6marks]
b(i) State how any five properties of a metal that has undergone a severe plastic deformation
will be different from its properties at the beginning of the deformation.[5marks]
,(ii) Discuss in full details the heat treatment process that the metal should be subjected to in
order to recover the properties.[12marks]
(iii) A stress of 10KNm-2 is applied on the cross-sectional area of a solid metallic cylinder,
what is the maximum critically resolved shear stress it can experience. Derive any
relationship used.

3 a(i) Define the thermal coefficient of linear expansion. [2marks]

(ii) Explain the expansion of materials on being heated from the atomic point of view
illustrate with a relevant diagram[5marks].
(iii) How does the strength of the atomic bond affect the coefficient of expansion? Illustrate
with relevant diagram.[3marks].
(iv)Discuss thermal conductivity in full details, showing why metals are better
conductors of thermal energy[12marks]
b Determine the thermal Shock resistance of a ceramic with the following properties
Fracture stress = 220KNm-2, thermal conductivity = .young modulus = and thermal
coefficient of linear expansion = [5marks]

4. a(i) Discuss in details the origin of Magnetism.[5marks]

(ii) Based on the above, comment on the magnetic properties of Hydrogen and Helium
[2marks]
b (i) Discuss diamagnetism and paramagnetism in full details illustrate with clear diagrams
[12marks]
(ii) A current of 2 amps was passed through a solenoid 20cm long with 100 turns the
magnetic induction measured was 2 x109 Wbm-2. What kind of magnetic medium was
responsible for the induction? [4marks]
(iii) Explain what happens to a ferromagnet’s magnetic domains as the external field is
increased. Illustrate with a suitable diagram [4marks].

5.a(i) Illustrate with clearly labelled diagrams the energy band structure of good electrical
conductors, semiconductors and insulators. [8marks]
(ii) What is the Fermi energy level?, what is its implication with respect to the electric
characteristic of a material?.[4marks]
(iii) An isolated atoms have discrete energy levels explain in full details why an
engineering material with the same chemical composition as the atom will have energy bands
rather discrete energy levels [5marks].
(iv) A parallel plate capacitor is made of plates each with an area of 2cm2 and are 0.5mm

apart, if the capacitor can store 10 Coulombs when a voltage of 4 volts is applied across
them, what is the dielectric constant of the material in between the plate given that the
dielectric constant of the vacuum is given by 8.85x10-12 Fm-1. [3marks].
b (i) What is polarisation? [1mark]
(ii) Discuss in some details the three types of polarisation possible in a dielectric.
[5marks].

6.a (i) Discuss an elemental semiconductor in details ,explaining and illustrating with clear
diagrams where possible, its crystal structure, energy band structure, mode of conduction and
write the relationship between its conductivity and electron or hole mobility. [10marks]
(ii) Discuss extrinsic semiconductors in details explaining and illustrating with clear
diagrams where possible, its crystal structure, energy band structure, mode of conduction and
write the relationship between its conductivity and electron or hole mobility. [12marks]

(iii) Why is it that almost all commercially available semiconductors are doped.
[2marks].
(iv) What general application are semiconductors based on silicon used for,? what
general application are semiconductors based on germanium are used for? why can’t silicon
based semiconductors be used for both applications?.[3marks]

7 a(i)Explain the origin of refraction of electromagnetic radiation.[5marks].

(ii) How does the size of atoms affect the refractive index of a transparent material.
[2marks].

b (i) What is reflectivity?[2marks]

(ii) Light from a medium of refractive index 1.2 was incident normally on another medium
of refractive index 1.6. What percentage of the light incident on the second medium was
reflected? [6marks].

c (i) Discuss absorption and transparency of electromagnetic wave as a function of the

energy band gap..[5marks].

d Given that the wave length of the visible spectrum varies from 0.4m to 0.7m show how l
materials of various energy band gap respond to the spectrum. Given that plank’s constant is
4.13x10-15 eV, and speed of electromagnetic waves in vacuum is 3x109ms-1. [6marks]